Non - state of mind

The primary subject of this thesis is to analyze and discuss the importance of a non-state of mind in the context of our secularized and civilized world. The thesis is of a critical and spiritual character and derives from my experience of living in a stressful world that does not seem to make sense. To change our world into a more harmonious place it is my belief that it is necessary to allow our minds to enter into nothingness, into non-states of minds from which it is possible to reflect upon our world anew from a “ground-zero.” The thesis critically aims to clarify the origins of our present state of world, and analyzes initially the radical impact of René Descartes’ philosophy on modern culture and mentality. Subsequently it takes departure in Jean Jacques Rousseau’s criticism of civilization and in my own belief that there exists an un-measurable, deep and pure dimension in life. A dimension that today’s people in general have become increasingly disconnected from. The thesis explores what has been done artistically to reconnect man to this profound state of pure being, of being in its essence. By analyzing and discussing artworks by Bill Viola, Mark Rothko and Edward Hopper the essay presents artists who thoroughly and consistently have offered alternatives and additional perspectives to the dominant modernist vision in philosophy and art, and to the one-sided materialistic foundation of our civilization based on rationality, division, property and compariso